In general, a vehicle body has a cabin (compartment) where passengers ride, an engine compartment, which is arranged at the front of this cabin and houses an engine and the like, and a floor part provided underneath the cabin. Furthermore, a pair of hinge pillars is provided in the two corners of the front part of the cabin in the vehicle width direction, so as to extend in the vertical direction, which support the side doors via hinges, and a cowl with a closed cross-section structure extending in the vehicle width direction spans the top parts of the two hinge pillars. Moreover, a dashboard is provided in the area enclosed by the floor part, the pair of hinge pillars, and the cowl, which separates the engine compartment from the cabin.
Since the dashboard is a part that only separates the engine compartment from the cabin, in many cases it is formed from thin sheet for lightness. As a result, there is a possibility that the dashboard membrane vibrates when moving. Therefore, in order to suppress the membrane vibration, a stiffening member extending in the vertical direction is provided in the dashboard. This can increase the stiffness of the dashboard.
The stiffening member is formed with a U-shaped cross-section, which is open on the dashboard side, and forms a closed cross-section by flanges provided on the open side ends being joined to the dashboard. Furthermore, the top end of the stiffening member extends to the cowl, and is joined to the bottom surface of this cowl (for example, refer to Patent Document 1).